Dr. Gustavo Mejía:

Personal Statement on Educational Philosophy (cont'd)

As a teacher, I believe that my obligation is to serve students as individuals, to care for their work and to respect the specific ways in which their learning process may be different from that of other students. My idea of a teacher is that of someone who meets the challenge of involving him or herself in the process of fostering the holistic development of students.

As an educator, I see myself as someone engaged in fostering the intellectual and moral development of students, rather than as the repository of a base of knowledge that is to be handed down to successive generations. I believe in helping students develop their thinking and analytical strategies so that they can prepare for a life-long educational process for which they feel responsible. By encouraging students to share their work with peers, to respect the work of others and be open to learn from them and to be willing teachers themselves, we can prepare them for the type of work and on-going learning environment that is already becoming predominant.

As a pedagogue, I believe that all methods and approaches can be effectively used, if implemented with rigor and respect for the students. However, I prefer to see myself as someone whose concept of education places the learner in the center and in control of his or her learning process; as someone who helps students to develop problem-solving and communication skills.

Finally, as a scholar, I think of myself as committed to continued learning through research carried out with the best means and intellectual tools that are available in my field of expertise. My aim is to achieve excellence and to contribute, even if in a humble way, to the relevant discussions in my field. I further believe that a fundamental part of my scholarly activity deals with the development of my own creative endeavors, and I take most seriously my work as a creative writer, in the belief that the efforts I can put in this direction will at least inspire students to make the same attempts at developing all facets of their personality in order to be all they can become.